This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art. Heat exchangers, such as an evaporator for a vehicle air conditioner, typically have a block that serves as the inlet and outlet point for fluid to flow into and from a heat exchanger. As depicted in FIG. 1, the block 2 is a one-piece part that is machined from one solid piece of material, such as aluminum. While such one piece blocks have generally been satisfactory for their given purpose, they are not without their share of limitations. One limitation of current blocks is the cost of machining the part from a large piece of aluminum stock. Another limitation of current blocks is the time and machining cost of making the block. Because the inlet 4 and outlet 6 of the block extend from the base 8 of the block, and the entire block is one piece, machining the inlet 4 and outlet 6 involves intricate time consuming steps and consumes and expends expensive machining tooling. Additionally, because the inlet 4 and outlet 6 are permanently part of the base 8 and form the block 2, the overall evaporator package is larger than it might otherwise be, and because of such size is larger and may be more expensive to ship. Finally, the permanent, protruding inlet and outlets are a point of breakage or damage during shipping, such as to a vehicle assembly plant, and installation, such as into a vehicle.
What is needed then is a device that does not suffer from the above disadvantages. This will provide a non-one piece device whose base is manufactured from a smaller overall piece of material, does not require extensive, intricate machining steps, offers light-weight pieces, and provides the option of a smaller overall shipping package.